REPORT 


OF    THE 


liuduu 


elief  and  Aid  §oc 


TO     THE 

BROPLiE   OF   CHICAGO. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

CARLI:  Consortium  of  Academic  and  Research  Libraries  in  Illinois 


http://archive.org/details/reportofchicagorOOchic 


&li     ?/T- 


REPORT 


OF    THE 


GO  R 


JJLJ 


EFAND 


OCIETY 


TO    THE 


PEOPLE    OF    CHICAGO. 


The  great  fire  fund  committed  to  the  care  of  the  Chicago 
Eelief  and  Aid  Society  is  exhausted,  and  in  view  of  this  fact, 
and  of  its  needs  and  duties  in  the  future,  its  Directors  desire  to 
lay  before  the  citizens  of  Chicago  a  short  report  of  the  employ- 
ment of  that  fund  since  the  date  of  its  last  report,  and  of  the 
theory  and  methods  of  its  work. 

The  Chicago  Eelief  and  Aid  Society,  like  most,  if  not  all 
the  charities  of  Chicago,  originated  in  the  wants  of  the  times, 
and  adapted  its  methods  to  the  circumstances  and  emergencies 
of  the  occasion.  Up  to  1850  there  was  comparatively  little 
demand  for  anything  of  the  sort.  The  occasional  cases  of  des- 
titution were  amply  met  by  the  county  authorities,  or  private 
charity.  With  the  then  population  it  was  not  difficult  to  ascer- 
tain the  merits  or  to  relieve  the  wants  of  all  the  unfortunate  and 
distressed.  Though  the  unparalleled  growth  of  the  city  and 
country  attracted  multitudes  of  all  classes  hither,  there  were  but 
comparatively  few  who  were  not  anxious  and  able  to  be  self-sup- 
porting. We  have  never  had  a  large  proportion  of  the  dependent 
classes  and  scarcely  any  of  the  regular  pauper  element, — cer- 
tainly none  worth  mentioning  of  the  very  lowest  grade  of  pau- 
perism so  prominent  in  Eastern  and  European  cities.  Still,  as 
the  population  increases,  the  unfortunate  and  dependent  classes 
become  more  numerous,  and  the  administration  of  relief  grows 


more  difficult,  requiring  the  exercise  of  greater  care  and  judg- 
ment, because  little  can  be  learned  of  the  antecedents  or  cir- 
cumstances of  many  applicants  beyond  their  own  statements,  or 
what  may  appear  upon  the  surface. 

The  county  authorities  have  always  made  liberal  provision 
for  the  care  of  the  poor  in  public  institutions,  such  as  the  poor- 
house  or  County  Farm;  the  County  Hospital;  the  Hospital  for 
Insane;  and  by  what  is  commonly  denominated  "out-door  relief," 
— that  is,  furnishing  more  or  less  food,  fuel,  shoes,  etc.,  to 
families  at  their  homes. 

In  the  great  financial  crisis  of  1857  there  was  much  suffer- 
ing everywhere  among  a  large  class  of  persons  who  had  never 
sought  or  accepted  aid,  and  who  were  not  embraced  in  any  theo- 
ries or  plans  of  work  for  the  permanently  indigent.  These  were 
mechanics,  clerks,  seamstresses  and  laborers,  many  of  them  with 
large  families  or  aged  people  depending  upon  them  for  support, 
whose  wants  could  hardly  be  met  by  the  county,  and  some  of 
whom  would  have  suffered  in  silence  rather  than  apply  to  or 
consent  to  accept  help  from  the  county  or  city  authorities. 
Appreciating  these  facts,  a  number  of  gentlemen  organized  in 
that  year  the  Chicago  Belief  and  Aid  Society  for  the  express 
purpose  of  relieving  this  class  of  cases  with  such  delicate  and 
timely  assistance  as  would  not  humiliate  or  lessen  the  self-respect 
of  the  recipient,  and  by  such  aid  and  advice  in  procuring  suit- 
able employment  as  would  enable  them  to  again  become  self- 
supporting. 

It  is  a  chartered  body  with  an  accountability  to  the  city  of 
Chicago  established  by  law.  It  is  also  subject  to  the  visitorial 
power  and  jurisdiction  of  the  courts.  It  has  during  the  last 
twenty  years  received  and  disbursed  materials  and  money 
amounting  to  over  six  million  dollars  without  any  defalcation  or 
the  loss  of  a  dollar,  and  is  able  to-day  to  exhibit  at  its  rooms, 
vouchers  for  every  cent  expended.  Its  plan  is  to  extend  relief 
to  none  but  the  temporarily  disabled,  and  in  no  case  to  grant  aid 
of  a  permanent  or  continuing  nature.  The  relief  of  persons  and 
families  brought  to  want  by  sickness,  accident,  or  the  infirmities 
of  age,  constitutes  the  bulk  of  its  work. 


It  lias  a  great  number  of  cases  on  record,  gathered,  some 
through  the  first  years  of  its  work,  and  many  more  during  the 
last  twelve  years.  They  form  a  most  interesting  history,  show- 
ing how  many  persons  and  families,  with  a  little  assistance,  have 
been  tided  over  a  temporary  difficulty,  and  enabled  to  rise  above 
the  need  of  help. 

The  following  facts  on  this  branch  of  the  work  are  most 
instructive.  In  the  year  1874,  the  total  number  of  cases  relieved 
was  9,719.  Of  this  number,  6,632,  or  more  than  two-thirds, 
received  assistance  but  once,  showing  conclusively  that  there  was 
only  one  pressing  time  during  that  year  in  the  history  of  these 
6,632  people  when  they  needed  a  helping  hand.  Nineteen  hund- 
red and  fifty -one  received  help  but  twice,  leaving  but  1,112  out  of 
the  9,719  aided  that  asked  for  assistance  more  than  twice. 

In  1875,  out  of  5,984  persons  and  families  relieved,  3,257 
were  aided  only  once,  and  1,399  twice,  leaving  1,328  receiving 
assistance  more  than  twice;  many  of  those  accepting  aid  but 
three  times.  In  1879,  out  of  3,311  persons  and  families  relieved, 
1,003  received  aid  but  once,  365  twice,  leaving  1,943  receiving 
assistance  more  than  twice.  In  1882,  out  of  3,938  cases  relieved, 
985  were  relieved  once,  550  twice,  and  2,403  more  than  twice. 
Of  the  Avhole  number  aided,  forty-seven  per  cent,  have  been  re- 
lieved but  once,  eighteen  per  cent,  twice,  eleven  per  cent,  three 
times,  and  but  twenty-four  per  cent,  more  than  three  times. 

These  facts  invite  reflection.  They  vindicate  the  character 
of  the  work ;  they  show  that  relief  was  extended  to  applicants  dis- 
posed to  aid  themselves,  and  who,  as  soon  as  they  Avere  helped 
over  an  emergency,  relieved  the  Society  of  any  further  demand, 
and  they  demonstrate  the  importance  of  an  agency  that  can 
extend  aid  at  a  time  when  misfortune  or  accident  has  made  it 
most  needful. 

From  1857  to  1871,  the  funds  disbursed  by  this  Society  were 
contributed  from  time  to  time  by  our  citizens.  At  the  time  of  the 
great  fire  in  1871,  it,  because  of  its  experience  and  established 
methods,  was  selected  by  the  mayor  and  citizens  as  their 
agency  for  distributing  the  supplies  and  money  sent  from  all 
portions  of  the  civilized  world  for  our  relief.     In  addition  to  the 


vast  number  of  people  (at  one  time  over  one  hundred  thousand) 
needing  relief  becaiise  of  the  fire,  nearly  all  of  the  charitable 
institutions  of  the  city  suffered  largely  by  it.  Some  of  them 
were  totally  destroyed,  leaving  them  with  debts;  all  were  more 
or  less  crippled,  and  their  friends  and  supporters  deprived  of  the 
means  of  assisting  them.  As  much  of  the  work  must  be  done 
through  the  hospitals,  asylums  and  homes  for  the  aged  and 
friendless,  these  institutions  were  more  than  ever  indispensable 
to  the  general  public  in  this  great  emergency,  and  it  was  thought 
both  economical  and  wise  to  appropriate  to  them  such  amounts  as 
would  help  them  to  resume  their  work  and  assist  the  Society  in 
doing  its  through  them,  and  so  realize  most  practically  and 
efficiently  the  idea  of  associated  charities  or  co-operation.  The 
results  have  justified  this  action,  and  the  Society's  relations  have 
ever  been  of  the  most  intimate  and  cordial  character  with  all  of 
the  existing  charities  of  the  city.  Though  the  fire  fund  as  a  fund 
is  exhausted,  some  of  its  resultant  benefits  thus  remain:  the 
Society  is  still  able  to  render  extensive  and  valuable  service  to 
the  needy  through  these  institutions,  because  of  the  aid  thus 
furnished  them,  and  is  at  liberty  to  send  applicants  for  relief  to 
the  Chicago  Home  for  the  Friendless,  the  Old  People's  Home, 
the  Bethel  Home,  the  Chicago  Orphan  Asylum,  the  Uhlich 
Orphan  Asylum,  the  Nursery  and  Half-Orphan  Asylum,  the 
St.  Joseph  Orphan  Asylum,  the  Women  and  Children's  Hospital, 
the  Alexian  Brothers'  Hospital,  the  St.  Joseph  Hospital,  St. 
Luke's  Hospital,  the  Mercy  Hospital  and  the  Hahnemann 
Hospital. 

In  addition  to  several  Special  and  Annual  Reports  the  So- 
ciety made  a  very  full  report  of  all  receipts  and  disbursements 
of  money  and  supplies  from  October,  1871,  to  May  1st,  1871, 
showing  all  the  work  of  the  different  departments  in  detail.  It 
here  again  presents  a  brief  synopsis  of  some  of  the  leading  facts 
contained  in  that  report,  and  with  it  a  summary  of  the  work  done 
since,  the  latter  compiled  from  its  annual  reports  to  the  Common 
Council  of  the  city,  thus  presenting  a  full  and  final  report  of  the 
Fire  Fund  and  the  amount  and  kind  of  work  accomplished  by  it. 

Stated   in  round  numbers,   nearly  one   million   dollars  was 


5 

expended  under  the  direction  of  the  Shelter  Committee  in  build- 
ing and  furnishing  something  over  9,000  houses;  $250,000  was 
expended  for  sewing  machines,  and  tools  for  mechanics  and 
laborers;  |300,000  was  expended  for  fuel  for  families.  Over 
half  a  million  was  disbursed  by  the  Medical  Department  and 
the  Committee  on  Charitable  Institutions. 
From  October,  1871,  to  May,  1871,  it 

Received $4,996,782  74 

Disbursed 4.415,454  08 

Amount  unexpended,  May  1st,  1874 $581,328  6G 

Over  5,000  persons  have  been  cared  for  in  Hospitals  and 
other  Institutions  on  the  order  and  at  the  expense  of  this  Society, 
averaging  a  term  of  four  weeks  to  each  person,  which  at  the  usual 
charges  for  such  care  would  amount  to  $125,000. 

It  has  paid  out  in  cash  since  May,  1874,  $745,072.11, 
making  a  grand  total  of  disbursments  $5,160,526.22,  besides  an 
immense  amount  of  all  kinds  of  incidental  service  to  applicants 
which  can  not  be  represented  by  figures.  Nor  is  it  possible  to 
estimate  the  value  of  the  services  rendered  where,  examination 
being  made,  aid  was  refused  because  the  applicant  was  unworthy. 

The  figures  of  a  few  of  the  articles  issued  up  to  the  present  • 
time  may  be  of  interest: 

Total  No.  of  pieces  of  Men's  wear  to  date 150,000 

"          "             "       "    Women  and  children's  wear  to  date. .  280,000 

"          "       pairs  of  blankets  to  date 82,000 

"          "       comforts  to  date 12,000 

"          "       pairs  of  shoes  to  date 102,000 

"  "       R.  R.  tickets  to  invalids  and  parts  of  families  to 

enable  them  to  reach  their  friends 20,000 

"           "       Interments 2,000 

"          "       yards  of  wool  flannel 125,000 

"          "           "       "  canton     "       92,000 

"          "           "       "  muslin 180,000 

"          "           "       "  dress  goods 15,000 

"           "       "  calico 210,000 

Lodgings  for  single  men 75,000 

Meals          "         "         '• 35,000 

Hereafter  its  work  must  be  restricted  to  the  purposes  for 
which  it  was  formed,   as  indicated  in  the  Act  of  Incorporation, 


6 

namely:  to  afford  temporary  relief  to  the  destitute.  This  includes 
timely  counsel  and  assistance  to  deserving  indigent  persons.  It 
will  discriminate  in  favor  of  those  in  whom  habits  of  temperance, 
industry  and  thrift  give  promise  of  permanent  benefit  from  the 
aid  furnished,  and  will  not  embrace  in  the  sphere  of  its  opera- 
tions such  persons  as  are  proper  subjects  for  the  poor-house  or 
for  the  action  of  the  county  officers.  It  does  not  attempt  to  deal 
directly  with  the  strictly  pauper  class,  nor  with  impoverished 
strangers  sent  to  Chicago  from  other  cities  to  be  here  supported 
by  alms.  We  have  a  board  of  County  Commissioners  and  a 
County  agent  who  have  assumed  this  work,  and  who  have  ample 
facilities  and  experience  therefor,  and  with  whom  it  is  in  frequent 
consultation.  In  extraordinary  emergencies  it  becomes  neces- 
sary for  this  Society  and  the  County  agent  to  co-operate. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  our  circumstances  are  pecu- 
liar in  another  respect,  namely:  The  tenement  house  system  so 
adapted  to  harboring  and  breeding  paupers  is  hardly  known 
among  us.  Dr.  DeWolf,  Commissioner  of  Health,  has  furnished 
us  with  the  following  official  report  of  Inspectors  of  tenement 
houses  made  within  the  last  few  months:  "The  field  sheets  are 
taken  at  random  from  Barber  St.,  11  houses;  Bradley  St.,  9; 
Burlington  St.,  7;  Canal  St.,  21;  Noble  St.,  32;  Wade  St.,  26; 
Newton  Place,  11;  Sloan  St.,  8;  and  give  us  a  total  of  165  houses 
containing  1,673  rooms,  592  families,  and  2.682  persons."  This 
averages  little  less  than  three  rooms  to  a  family,  and  two  persons 
to  a  room,  and  is  in  remarkable  contrast  to  the  reports  of  other 
cities,  which  show  that  families  of  four  to  six  persons,  and  often 
more,  are  crowded  in  one  room,  sometimes  two  or  three  families 
crowded  into  less  quarters  than  those  occupied  by  one  of  even 
the  poorest  families  in  Chicago.  By  far  the  largest  proportion 
of  even  our  very  poor  have  decent  rooms  in  buildings  not  occupied 
by  more  than  three  or  four  families,  and  many  of  them  have  little 
cottages  by  themselves.  For  these  reasons,  there  are  few  cases 
of  obscure  wretchedness  in  cellars  and  garrets,  and  the  necessity 
of  employing  detectives  to  prosecute  frauds  and  imposition, 
needful  perhaps  in  other  cities,  is  unnecessary  among  us. 

The  charities  of  this  city  are  well  known  to  its  citizens,   or 


can  at  least  be  easily  ascertained  by  all  who  care  to  inform  them- 
selves; there  is  therefore  little  clanger  of  worthy  sufferers  being 
overlooked.  There  is  more  danger  in  the  multiplication  of  free 
lodging  and  soup  houses,  and  the  increase  of  homes  for  special 
classes,  employment  agencies,  dispensaries  and  other  societies, 
duplicating  the  work  of  those  already  established,  and  so  increas- 
ing expenses  and  furnishing  opportunities,  if  not  inducements, 
for  the  unscrupulous  to  practice  imposition,  than  there  is  of  really 
needy  cases  being  neglected,  or  worthy  ones  denied. 

As  long  as  the  present  condition  of  society  remains,  there 
will  be  a  large  proportion  of  honest  struggling  poor  people  who 
find  it  hard  to  make  ends  meet  under  the  most  favorable  circum- 
stances. Mechanics  and  laborers  with  large  families  of  small 
children,  and  in  many  cases  with  aged  parents  dependent  upon 
them,  can  hardly  lay  up  much  for  a  rainy  day,  and  when  unusual 
sickness  or  a  specially  dull  season,  or  an  extraordinary  emergency 
overtakes  them,  they  are  compelled  to  seek  relief;  and  it  is  still 
more  difficult  for  widows  with  small  children  requiring  food  and 
clothing,  but  all  of  them  too  young  to  work,  and  when  the  mother 
cannot  earn  to  exceed  two  or  three  dollars  a  week  at  washing  or 
scrubbing,  and  less  for  sewing  at  the  prices  usually  paid.  There 
is  another  and  larger  class  than  either  of  these,  and  far  more 
pitiable,  where  the  man  spends  all  he  earns  for  drink,  doing  little 
or  nothing  for  the  support  of  his  family,  and  increasing  the  bur- 
den of  his  suffering  wife  and  children  by  his  abuse.  The  most 
embarrassing  question  that  this  Society  has  to  meet  in  its  work 
is  how  and  how  much  it  can  help  such  a  family  without  encourag- 
ing the  man  in  his  viciousness,  and  how  much  the  family  should 
be  left  to  suffer  on  his  account. 

Great  prudence  should  be  exercised  in  the  administration  of 
charitable  work,  lest  through  its  agency  barriers  be  erected  against 
the  operation  of  wholesome  and  natural  laws,  and  people  be  shel- 
tered from  the  punishment  which  the  welfare  of  the  community 
requires  shall  be  visited  upon  idleness  and  crime.  Yet  it  is 
none  the  less  the  fact  that  any  theory  for  the  suppression  of 
pauperism  and  the  discouragement  of  relief  is  radically  defective 
that   does    not  recognize    the  truth  that    thousands  of  innocent 


helpless  women  and  children,  in  a  city  of  the  size  of  Chicago,  by 
no  fault  of  their  own,  are  oftentimes  on  the  very  verge  of  starva- 
tion, and  never  decently  clothed.  There  is  no  danger  of  pauper- 
izing such  with  timely  and  judicious  help,  and  the  chances  of 
their  becoming  paupers  and  possibly  criminals,  if  they  are  not 
treated  with  some  measure  of  intelligent  sympathy  and  material 
aid,  cannot  be  questioned. 

But  adventurers,  tramps  and  vagrants  infest  every  large  city, 
who  are  not  proper  subjects  for  relief  by  this  Society  and  ought 
not  to  be  embraced  in  any  plans  for  the  improvement  of  the  poor, 
and  in  this  connection  we  wish  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  indis- 
criminate giving  to  beggars  in  the  street  is  always  a  crime  against 
society,  and  an  injury  to  the  individual.  The  only  way  to  prevent 
it  is  to  give  nothing  to  any  person  whom  you  do  not  know  to  be 
needy  and  worthy,  and  not  then  if  aid  is  being  received  from 
other  sources.  With  all  the  well-known  agencies  and  institutions 
of  every  kind  in  this  city  for  the  care  of  the  poor  and  sick: 
the  churches,  most  of  which  look  after  their  -own  poor,  the  frater- 
nities and  societies  of  different  trades  and  nationalities  pledged 
to  help  their  own  members,  the  visiting  clergy,  physicians, 
nurses  and  neighbors,  there  is  little  danger  of  any  worthy 
persons  suffering  or  failing  to  receive  either  needful  assistance, 
or  direction  to  the  proper  channel -of  relief.  It  is  to  be  presumed 
that  every  society  engaged  in  this  work  will  promptly  investigate, 
through  experienced  agents,  all  cases  referred  to  it,  by  visitation 
and  by  reference  to  employers  and  others  capable  of  giving 
information.  With  proper  scrutiny,  there  is  little  danger  of 
imposition. 

The  prevention  of  pauperism  is  unquestionably  one  of  the 
great  social  problems  of  our  time,  but  that  other  question, 
inseparably  connected  with  it,  is  of  equal  importance,  namely, 
how  to  afford  timely  and  proper  relief  to  the  worthy  suffering 
poor.  All  who  care  for  the  best  interests  of  society,  will  take 
equal  interest  in  both,  but  as  every  one  cannot  take  the  time  to 
persqnally  investigate  each  case  that  may  come  to  his  notice,  the 
Society  respectfully  requests  that  all  applicants  be  sent  to  it,  to 
the  end  that  it,  with  its  records,  and  its  accumulated  skill  and 


9 

experience,  may  step  in  between  the  giver  and  the  applicant,  and 
still  leave  the  satisfaction  that  a  benevolent  deed  will  be  done 
and  that  it  will  be  done  with  judgment  and  without  waste. 

In  all  cases  where  so  desired,  it  will  report  the  result  of  its 
investigation.  Its  rooms  and  books  are  open  to  the  public,  and 
it  invites  all  interested  to  inspect  its  methods  and  work. 

One  word  more  as  to  the  method  of  the  work.  This  is  con- 
ducted through  a  system  of  friendly  intercourse  with  all  other 
charities  in  Chicago,  and  by  a  personal  visitation,  that  two  things 
may  be  ascertained:  first,  the  actual  condition  of  the  applicant: 
second,  what  assistance,  if  any,  such  applicant  is  receiving  from 
other  sources.  In  its  efforts  to  obtain  reliable  information,  the 
Society  has  the  advantage  of  its  relations,  before  stated,  with  the 
various  charities  named,  and  of  its  own  reports,  showing  the 
history,  situation  and  surroundings  of  a  large  proportion  of  the 
poor  of  this  city,  not  only  those  who  have  been  aided  but  also 
many  thousands  of  those  to  whom  aid  has  been  refused,  so 
systematized  that  any  individual  case  can  be  referred  to  at  once. 
It  is  confiden»t  that  this  plan  of  work,  which  has  been  perfected 
by  many  years  of  experience,  prevents  duplication  of  relief  so  far  as 
it  is  possible,  and  gives  at  the  same  time  a  valuable  record  of  the 
condition  of  our  needy  classes. 

The  Board  of  Directors  whose  names  are  appended  believe 
that  this  Society  with  its  records,  experience  and  established 
relations  with  other  charities,  is  a  valuable  agency  to  the  city  of 
Chicago,  and  ask  you  to  make  such  contributions  towards  its  work 
for  the  winter  of  1883  and  1884  as  it  seems  to  you  its  import- 
ance deserves. 

C.  G.  HAMMOND,  E.  B.  McCAGG, 

T.  W.  HARVEY,  HENRY  W.  KING. 

C.  H.  CASE,  ABIJAH  KEITH. 

R.  T.  CRANE,  WIRT  DEXTER, 

J.  HARLEY  BRADLEY.  HENRY  FIELD, 

C.  H.  S.  MIXER,  H.  A.  JOHNSON,  M.D. 

J.  MASON   LOOMIS,  W.  C.  LARNED, 

JULIUS  ROSENTHAL,  WM.  H.  BRADLEY. 

A.  A.  SPRAGUE,  C.  F.  GATES, 

0.  W.  POTTER,  C.  L.  HUTCHINSON. 

A.  C.  BARTLETT. 

Hon.  CARTER  HARRISON,  Mayor,  ex-officio. 

Chicago,  January  1,  1884. 


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